Five of the world's seven chokepoints are contested at once | THE GATES OF THE WORLD Part 4 of 4

History Onion · Part 4 · 2:49

In Part 1, we said whoever controls the narrow water controls the world. So who controls it now? The United States has blockaded the Strait of Hormuz — cutting off 90% of Iran's sea trade at $400 million a day. Eighteen miles south, the Houthis have driven most container shipping away from the Red Sea. Ships now sail 11,000 extra miles around Africa. In the Bosphorus, Turkey used the Montreux Convention to close the straits after Russia invaded Ukraine — trapping the Black Sea Fleet. Ukraine destroyed much of it with drones. The same strait Russia failed to reach in 1915 is now the strait Russia cannot leave. And 80% of China's imported crude oil passes through the Strait of Malacca — less than two miles wide, flanked by Singapore, a close American ally. China calls it the Malacca Dilemma. Twenty years of alternatives haven't solved it.